[HPforGrownups] Voldemort - Jafar?

[Audra1976 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 47958

maria_kirilenko at yahoo.com writes:

> In GoF Voldemort is described as tall, thin, with abnormally long fingers, 
> white skin, with slits for nostrils and red eyes. Doesn't that kind of 
> resemble Jafar in "Aladdin?" I think that the only 2 differences are that 
> Jafar does not have red eyes but instead has a really big nose. 
> 
> This bothers me for this reason: Jafar is a classic, even fairy-tale 
> villain, he doesn't have *any* positive traits (well, he is rather smart, 
> but he's still very unappealing). JKR doesn't strike me as the type of 
> writer who would have such one-sided characters. So why the resemblance? 
> Maybe it's just an accident?
> 

Me:

Whoa, hold on there, Steely Dan.  "Unappealing" is a matter of opinion.  I 
*loved* Jafar.  "The royal vizier! Why, that would be...me!"   Interestingly, 
I've never compared Jafar with Voldemort before, but I've seen a lot of fan 
art where *Snape* is depicted looking a *lot* like Jafar.  I've even seen him 
with Jafar's beard many times.  And what about Jafar's *voice*?  Definitely 
soft and silky.

However, I don't think JKR had Jafar in mind when she wrote her characters.  
I believe the similarities between Jafar and Snape, Jafar and Lucius (big 
snake-headed staff, remember?), and Jafar and Voldemort are due to snake 
imagery being used so often to convey cold, calculating, devious, mysterious, 
manipulative, sinister, murderous, evil, etc, which is a Judeo-Christian view 
going all the way back to Satan being depicted as a serpent in Genesis.  

On a final note, Jafar and Voldemort both ought to take a lesson from "If I 
Am Ever And Evil Overlord."  Turning into a snake never works.  ;)

Audra


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